Can you believe it’s already Thanksgiving? It feels like once Halloween passes that the fast forward button of life is pressed and we go through the next two months at maximum speed. Rushing through the holidays doesn’t exactly give us the time to reconnect with family and friends we seldom see, now does it?
So, how about slowing down your festivities a bit so you can savor not only your dinner, but the special time you spend with your friends and family as well. This Thanksgiving, consider starting a new tradition by playing, Who Am I?
All you need to play this game is some 5” x 8” index cards, a pen to write with and some thoughts about what you are thankful for. Place the index cards and pens in a convenient place where the guests have easy access to them.
Ask all of your friends/family to take an index card and write down several things he/she is thankful for. Tell them not to just write down all the typical thanks, but to give special consideration to all of the good experiences that have occurred in their lives this past year. Tell each person to NOT put their name on their card.
For the young children who cannot write yet, you could either have an adult write down what the child dictates, or have the child draw a picture/pictures of what they are thankful for. If you have some crayons handy, you could also set those out for the some fancy artwork. (This is also a great way to keep the little ones occupied while you are busy with a million other things!)
Keep a basket/plate or container of some sort, next to the the cards and tell everyone to place their finished cards there. After all of the cards are turned in, it’s time to have some fun with them!
Gather everyone around and start passing around the basket with a pen. Each person should take out one card and read it out loud to everyone. Once the entire card is read, then everyone has to guess who wrote the card by the “clues” that were read. It’s not always easy to pick out the author of each card with limited information to go on, but it sure is fun! After all the guesses are in, then the person who wrote the card needs to fess up. Before passing the basket to the next person, be sure to write down the name of the author for that card.
After your Thanksgiving festivities are over take your stack of thankful cards and punch a hole in the top left hand side. Pull a ribbon through the hole to make these cards into a booklet and place it somewhere in the house where it can be seen. There you have it folks! Your very first decoration of the season!
To make this into a holiday tradition you can look back on and enjoy year after year, be sure to make a title page for your booklet and include the year on it. Pack your booklet away with your other decorations of the season and get it out for the next Thanksgiving gathering. Then, all of your friends/family can enjoy looking back at what they were thankful for, as they fill out their new cards.
Wishing you all a safe, happy and memorable Thanksgiving holiday!
Warmly,
Mindi aka B.A. Bookworm
*This was a previous post that I updated. The original post can be found here.
